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Willem Hendrik Keesom facts for kids

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Willem Keesom
WillemKeesom1926.jpg
Willem Keesom in 1926
Born 21 June 1876 (1876-06-21)
Texel, Netherlands
Died 3 March 1956 (1956-03-04) (aged 79)
Leiden, Netherlands
Known for helium
Scientific career
Fields physics
Doctoral advisor Johannes Diderik van der Waals

Willem Hendrik Keesom (/ˈksm/) (21 June 1876, Texel – 3 March 1956, Leiden) was a Dutch physicist who, in 1926, invented a method to freeze liquid helium. He also developed the first mathematical description of dipole–dipole interactions in 1921. Thus, dipole–dipole interactions are also known as Keesom interactions. He was previously a student of Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who had discovered superconductivity (a feat for which Kamerlingh Onnes received the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physics).

He also discovered the lambda point transition specific-heat maximum between Helium-I and Helium-II in 1930.

In 1924 he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1966, the minor planet 9686 Keesom was named after him.

See also

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